Netflix has been rather successful with TV adaptations of popular video games like Castlevania and The Witcher. Now the streaming goliath’s sights are set on 2K Game’s gene-splicing Bioshock series, only this time, it’s being developed as a movie.
The Hollywood Reporter states that Netflix is partnering with 2K’s parent company Take-Two Interactive and Vertigo Entertainment to bring the series to life. The THR report calls this an effort to “develop a potential cinematic universe,” which is fitting considering the multiversal events of Bioshock Infinite. Currently, there are no names attached to the project for writing or directing, nor is there any word of which era of Bioshock we’ll be seeing on film.
Bioshock has long been in Hollywood’s crosshairs for an adaptation. In 2009, it was announced that Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was helming a movie based on the franchise, but that sadly fell apart after a couple of years. Verbinski spoke about the dissolution of the project back in 2017, saying, “It’s an R rated movie. I wanted to keep it R rated, I felt like that would be appropriate, and it’s an expensive movie. It’s a massive world we’re creating and it’s not a world we can simply go to locations to shoot. We’d be building an entire underworld universe. So I think the combination of the price tag and the rating, universal just didn’t feel comfortable ultimately.”
With Bioshock’s core tenants prescribed in Bioshock Infinite being a man, a city, and a lighthouse, this new take on the series could possibly be separate from the Raptures and Columbias we know and love. However, chances are very high we’ll see those submerged and floating cities before exploring other doomed civilizations led by deeply flawed megalomaniacs. The allure of bringing Andrew Ryan and his Big Daddies and Little Sisters to life is likely too iconic to avoid.
Where should the Bioshock movie be set? Do you want a rehashing of the existing tales or would you rather see something new using the Bioshock template? Let us know in the comments!
